Business owner urges caution after phone scam

LYNN – Vasilio Encarnacion was preparing for one of the busiest days of the week at his restaurant when he got a call. The caller said the electricity was going to be shut off in a half hour if Encarnacion didn’t pay a $700 overdue bill.Encarnacion said didn’t have an overdue bill; he had a scammer.”It happened to me twice this week – I never gave up, just said, ?No, if you want to disconnect it, you have to come down here,'” Encarnacion, the owner of Rincon Macorisano on Washington Street, said last Tuesday.And Encarnacion wants other businesses to be aware of the scam.”As a business owner and concerned citizen, I don’t want to see nobody being scammed, as I know the problem is out there,” he said.Encarnacion said he received two calls – one at approximately 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, and the other at the same time the next day, just before the busiest shifts at his restaurant, from a caller purporting to be from a utility company. Each time the caller reportedly told Encarnacion that his electricity was scheduled to be shut off at 3:30 p.m. unless he made a payment to the utility company.Encarnacion said he asked the caller to recite his account number so he could confirm the charge. The caller replied the system’s computer only allowed him to do certain tasks, Encarnacion said.He said he told the company he wasn’t going to pay and would suffer the consequences, if necessary.He didn’t have his power shut off.The alleged scammer called again the next day, however, saying the company hadn’t been able to proceed with the request Friday but the power would be shut off in half an hour if Encarnacion did not pay. Encarnacion hung up again and reported his suspicions to the police.Lynn Police Spokesperson Lt. Rick Donnelly said Wednesday afternoon he was not aware of any other businesses reporting this particular scam.But National Grid Spokesperson Deborah Drew said that the calls do indeed sound like a scam that has been reported throughout the area this fall.”National Grid does contact customers with past due balances by phone to offer payment options, but never demands direct payment over the telephone,” a statement from National Grid about the scam says.Drew also urged any customers with billing questions to call customer service.Encarnacion said the calls ?which he speculated were from an international number – had stopped. But he wanted other local businesses to be aware of the scam especially, he said, “if you think you’re going to have your business busy.”